Five years after the discovery of the Titans, Doctor Emma Russell (Vera Farmiga), a paleobiologist with the Titan-study organization called Monarch, witnesses, with her 12-year-old daughter Madison (Millie Bobby Brown), the birth of a giant larval Mothra. Emma uses a device that can alter the mood of Titans to calm Mothra. But a group of eco-terrorists, led by Colonel (retired) of the British Army Alan Jonah (Charles Dance), attacks the base and abducts Emma and Madison. Mothra escapes confinement and pupates under a waterfall.
Two scientists from Monarch, Doctor Ishiro Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) and Doctor Vivienne Graham (Sally Hawkins) contact a former Monarch scientist Doctor Mark Russel (Kyle Chandler), Emma’s ex-husband and Madison’s father, to help track them down. He hesitates because of his hatred of Godzilla, whom he blames for his son’s death, but he finally agrees. They follow Godzilla to Antarctica, where Colonel Jonah plans to free a three-headed Titan called Monster Zero. The creature battles Godzilla, devouring Doctor Graham, and escapes. The team discovers that Emma is working with the terrorists. She contacts Monarch and demands that the Titans be awakened to help heal the Earth from the damage wrought by human beings.
Emma awakens Rodan in Mexico and Monarch leads it to Monster Zero. Godzilla defends Rodan and decapitates Monster Zero’s left head. The U.S. Navy launches a prototype weapon called the Oxygen Destroyer, which seems to kill Godzilla. Monster Zero regrows its lost head and awakens all the other Titans in the world. Rodan submits to his rule. Madison disowns her mother Emma. Doctor Ilene Chen (Zhang Ziyi) discovers that Monster Zero is really King Ghidorah, a prehistoric alien who is out to transform Earth. Mothra emerges from her cocoon and flies to communicate with the recuperating Godzilla, at his lair in a radioactive submarine in an ancient underwater city. Monarch decides to help him along with a tasty nuclear warhead. Serizawa sacrifices himself to set it off and Godzilla revives more powerful than before.
Emma realizes that the Titans are even more destructive than humans are, but Jonah will not listen. Madison overhears and starts their ship Orca. She broadcasts a frequency that calms the Titans, but it attracts them to her location. Ghidorah lands in Boston to destroy the Orca. Godzilla takes him on with help from Monarch. With Mark in charge, a team sets out to rescue Madison from the thermonuclear explosion Godzilla may cause. Mothra is injured battling Rodan.
Ghidorah overpowers Godzilla and is about to kill him, but Mothra sacrifices herself and gives her energy to Godzilla. Emma sacrifices herself to lead Gidorah away, giving Mark, Madison, and the Monarch team time to escape. Godzilla defeats Ghidorah, and Rodin and the other Titans bow to him in proper Japanese fashion. During the credits, files and news reports show that the Titans are healing the planet. Another Mothra egg is found. Ancient cave-paintings show Godzilla battling Kong. Jonah purchases Ghidorah’s left head.
The film was directed and co-written by Michael Dougherty and was greenlit as far back as the opening week of Godzilla (2014). It was dedicated to Director Yoshimitsu Banno. and suit-performer Haruo Nakajima, who died in 2017. It opened to mixed reviews and was a box-office disappointment, but the sequels continued. The monsters were no longer MUTOs, they were Titans, and the history of their designs were studied to create a god-like air about them. Ghidorah was cobra-like, Mothra was beautiful and elegant, and Godzilla was every inch the god. Godzilla is associated with the color blue, like the sea, Rodan with red like fire, Mothra with forest green, and Ghidorah golden yellow and black. In Tarot, Godzilla is the Emperor, Mothra the High Priestess, Rodan the Fool, and Ghidorah the Devil.
Michael Dougherty was picked on as a half-Asian child and fantasized about giant monsters wrecking his school. He made a Godzilla film when he was ten, using his Star Wars and Hot Wheel toys, with his Shogun Warrior as Godzilla. In the film, he plays the pilot eaten by Rodan. Bear McCreary did the score and called it his most audacious music. Since Godzilla can breathe with both lungs and gills, he is amphibian. His Latin name is Titanus Gojira, as Kong’s is Megaprimatus Kong. Eight Titans are mentioned that do not appear in this film: Leviathan, Baphomet, Abaddon, Typhoon, Tiamat, Mokele Mbembe, Sargon, Bunyip, and Kong. The electronic system that creates roars for the creatures is called Behemoth. Monarch’s base in Antarctica is Outpost 32. Outpost 31 is in The Thing (1982).
King Ghidorah’s scales conduct electricity. Several features of his design came from Smaug the Dragon in the Hobbit movies and the dragons in Reign of Fire (2002). One shot shows Ghidorah as Satan from Night on Bald Mountain in Disney’s Fantasia. Each of Ghidorah’s heads has a distinctive personality and was motion-capture performed by a different person. They are called Ichi, Ni, and San—1, 2,and 3 in Japanese. The middle head is smarter. Jason Lilles had the honor of performing that head. He did the motion-capture of George in Rampage (2018). Sometimes the heads disagree and the central one takes control. The right head (captured by Alan Maxon) is a loyal and obedient follower and is the most agreeable. The left head (captured by Richard Dorton) is not too bright and is easily distracted but is the most liked by viewers at 82%.